Controller for agitating mechanisms



M. DONAUER. CONTROLLER FOR AGITATINGMECHANISMS.

APPLICAT ON FILED JULY"|| I920.

Patented Jan. 31, 1922.

- INVENTOR w m m TTORNEY 1 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

max nonnunn, or ELYRIA, 01110, ASSIGNOR TO THE Em'am numeral) rnonucrs comrm, or ELYRIA, 01110, A conronn'rron or OHIO.

CONTROLLER FOR AGITATING MECHANISMS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed July 1, 1920. Serial No. 398,433.

To all {whom it may concern: Be it known that 1, MAX DONAUER, a citizen of'the United States, residing at El ria, in the county of Lorain and State of hio, have invented certain new and useful 1mfi'ovements in Controllers for Agitating echanisms; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, concise, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it a pertains to 'make and use the same.

y invention relates to controllers for agitating mechanisms, and particularly controllers for controlling the motion of agitating mechanisms, such as propellers or like devices adaptedto be immersed in a liquid. to be processed and b whose movement the functions, sought to e secured by the agitation of the liquid, are performed.

It is a articular object of my invention to control t e speed of the moving element of the agitating mechanism, such as a propeller of the like, in such a way that when the liquid in a container is exhausted from the container to a predetermined low level, that the propeller or like device will operateat a reduced speed, or if preferred, will cease its motion entirely.

It is'a further object to provide such a controller as may be simple in operation and inexpensive to manufacture and which may be added to existing installations at minimum expense, and which will furthermore o crate reliably with little attention. The a oresaid and'other objects of my invention will be better understood from a description of the several embodiments thereof herein described and shown in the accompanying drawings; in which Figure 1 illustrates an embodiment of my invention shown mostly in a vertical cross section, the embodiment illustrated com--.

ment, certain parts being shown in" section,-

other parts which will beunderstood from the other figures, being omitted.

Referring first-i now to the embodiment illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, at A -A, I show the cylindrical side walls of an upright cylindrical tank, and at B, I show a downwardly curved bottom for the tank, an exhaust outlet therefor being shown at C, the tank also being shown with an enclosing jacket for the purpose of thermally effecting the temperature of the tank contents in the well known manner.

At D is shown a propeller mounted on a shaft E, which passes through a side wall of the tank, the shaft in the embodiment illustrated being horizontally mounted in a verticalplane co-inciding with an axis of the tank. At M is shown a motor for driving the propeller and at F and G .are shown the elements of a 'clutch mechanism, by means of which motion may be communicated from the motor M to the propeller D. j

A hand lever H is provided and adapted to engage the shaft E at a point J for the purpose of shifting the element F thereof, and. also at the same time to operate the Patented Jan. 31, 1922.

contacts K in the motor energizing circuit,

K is mounted on a spring L which, by means of the adjustable screw N is caused to oppose the thrust action of the propeller D when the propeller is rotated and to restore the propeller to its extreme inoperative normal position when the motor is shut off. The system of my invention operates as follows:

The tank being filled with liquid substantially above the level of-the propeller, the operator, by means of the hand lever, H will throw the friction clutch elements F and G together, thereby moving the propeller D toward the adjacent side wall of the tank, and at the same time, the motor M is started by the closure of the contacts K, said closure caused by the motion of the propeller. shaft E, being communicated to the contact spring L, by means of a collar 0, mounted on the shaft E.

1 The motor .being started, and theclutch operated, the propeller will rotate, and, assuming the direction of rotation and the pitch of the propeller to be such that a thrust tendency away from the center of the tank will be realized, the propeller will seek and maintain a position aS' far distan from the by the operator.

tank center as possible, and will maintain the clutch in its closed position, and mainta n the contacts K closed, against the resilient ower of the spring L, independently of the hand lever H, which will now be released The propeller will operate thenceforth in the usual way to cause agitation of the tank Y contents; now should a portion of the tank contents be withdrawn, or the tank contents be gradually withdrawn, and the level of the liquid be lowered until the propeller is partially 'or entirely uncovered, the power of the sprin L, will overcome the thrust tendency of t e propeller on account of the fact that the :wer of the thrust will be considerably lessened, and the spring L will thereupon cause the clutch elements F and G to disengage, at which time the rotative motion of the shaft E will be ,entirely discontinued and the shaft willthereupon be churning heretofore has produced deleterious effects upon certain liquids sought to be processed .by agitating mechanisms, such as herein described; for instance,.the churning of milk sought to be processed produces butter, and in mostof theprocesses J involving milk this is highly undesirable.

, Some times it. may be desired that the controlling apparatus be effected to again cause the propeller to rotate at normal operative speed, after. more liquid has been placed in the tank to' raise its levelabove the propeller blades, and the arrangement illustrated in Figure 3 is designed for this purpose. In the embodiment illustrated .in' Figure 3, I preferably replace the clutch elements F and G :by corresponding elements F and G,, .by which motion may be communicated fromtthe motor M to the, motor shaft E there being a slidin telescoping actionat S, since the element has, as illustrated, a square hole into which the uare MG of the. shaft E is adapted to t and-move longitudinally. Contacts K corresponding to the contacts K of Figure 1 and adapted .to be closed when the hand lever H is moved to the left to start the motor to operate at operative speed, will short-circuit a] re slstance coil, R;

The resistance coil R is suitably .prop'or' tioned so that the motor M can bevoperatedwhen only the switch SW is closed, the

operation in such a case being at a considerably reduced speed, the speed of rotationof the motor shaft andtherefore of the propeller shaft E being accelerated when the contacts K adapted to short-circuit the resistance R, are closed. I

The operation of the embodiment illustrated in Figure 3 is as follows:

The operator, after filling the tank,

throws the switch SW to close a circuit for the motor M, said circuit'including a resistance .R, the motor will rotate its shaft and by' means of the simple connection F'G will cause the propeller D to rotate at a relatively slow speed. The operator will also, although this may be unnecessary,

operate the lever The lever-H is retained principally that the operation of the system maybe manually controlled, as well asbeing automatically controlled, in case of failure of any part of the automatic apparatus. The propeller being operated and the thrust tend ency being realized the contacts K will be maintained closed until .sufiicient liquid is withdrawn from the tankto reduce the thrust effect upon the propeller D so that the retractile spring L will overcome the thrust effect and .move the propeller shaft E longitudinally toward. the-tank center and cause the rupture of the contacts K The contacts K? being opened the motor.

M will be thenceforth operated at a re-/- I duced speed through the resistance R, until the tank contents are again replenished when the thrust tendency will be increased to cause re-operation of the contacts K and accelerated contacts of the propeller D.

Having thus described my invention in several specific embodiments, I wish it to be understood that I do not wish to be lim, ited to the aforesaid structure herein illustrated and described for the purpose of explaining my invention, but I am aware that (numerous and extensive departures may be ,made from the embodiments of my invention herein illustrated, but without departfrom the spirit of my invention.

-atIclaimis2' l '1. In a device of the class described; the combination with a vessel for'containing liquids; agitating means for agitating the contents of the vessel, 5 source of power for operating the agitating means and means responsive to 'a predetermined low level of--- liquid contained in the vessel to control the" action of the said agitating means upon the liquid. I

.2. In a device of the class described, the

combination with a vessel for containing liquids, agitating means for agitating the contents f the vemel, a source of power for perating th'e agitating means, a clutch for assoclating the said source of-power with the its said agitating means, and means responsive operating the agitating means, and means to the amount of liquid contained in the vesresponsive to the amount of liquid contained sel for operating the said clutch. in the vessel to control the speed at which 10 3. In a device of the class described, the the said agitating means is operated.

combination with a vessel for containing In witness whereof, I have hereunto liquids, agitating means for agitating the signed my name this 25 day of June, 1920.

contents of the vessel, a source of power for v MAX DONAUER. 

